Improvement in whiffletree-fastenings



H. R. JACKSON.

WHIFFLE'IREE FASTENING.

No,170,738 Patented Dec. 7,1875.

NJETERS, PHOTO-LITHOGRAFHER. wAsHmGTbN. D C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIGE.

HANNIBAL R. JACKSON OF LA FAYETTE, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND THOMAS J. ROADS, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN WHlFFLETREE-FASTENINGS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 170,738, dated December 7, 1875; application filed September 4, 1876.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HANNIBAL R. J AOKSON, of La Fayette, in the countv of Tippecanoe and State of Indiana, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Whifiietree-Fastenings, of which the following is a specification:

Figure 1 is a rear view of my improved fastening, shown as applied to a whiffletree and double-tree. Fig. 2 is an under-side view of the whiffletree. Fig. 3 is a rear view of the whiifletree. Fig. 4 is a top view of an end part of the dou ble-tree.

Similar letters of reference indicate correspondin g parts.

This invention relates to certain improvement in the means for detachably fastening the whiffletree of vehicles to the double-tree; and it consists in a plate having a rearwardlyopening T-shaped groove, with enlarged end, in combination with a second plate attached to the whiffletree, having a pivot or stud, provided with a head, whereby the chances of accidental disengagement are diminished.

A is a plate or casting, attached to the end of a double-tree, B, and which is made with a flange, a which overlaps the rear side of said doubletree. The plate A is made with a circular projection, a in its middle part, and with a T-groove a leading in from its rear edge to its center. 0 is a plate or casting, which is attached to the center of the Whittletree D, and which is made with a flange, 0 which overlaps the forward side of the said whiffletree D. The plate 0 is made witha circular projection, 0 in its middle part, to rest upon the circular projection a. of the plate A. The two projections c a serve as friction-surfaces, and also raise the whiffletree above the doubletree sufficiently to prevent its end parts from rubbing. 7 To the center of the plate 0 is attached a stud or pivot, 0 having a cross-plate or head formed upon its lower end, and arranged longitudinally with the whiftletree D. The width of the cross-head of the stud or pivot c is such that when the whiffletree D is turned across the double-tree B the said cross-head stud 0 may be slid into the T-groove a of the plate A. The inner part of the T-groove a is enlarged, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4, so that when the whiffietree D has been turned parallel with the double-tree B it cannot become detached. This fastening can only be fastened and unfastened by turning the whiffletree at right angles with the double tree, a position it can never assume when in use.

I am aware of the fact that it is not new to construct a fastening for a double-tree to a whiffletree, in which the parts are connected by a short vertical pivot, and detached by being turned at right angles and lifted. This fastening, however, is open to an objection in that, if one of the traces breaks, the \vhiffletree assumes the right-angular position, and the weight of the remaining trace and the jolting of the vehicle allows the whiffletree to tilt up-' on the short vertical pivot, and the parts become, in consequence, wholly detached, a contingency likely to result disastrously 'if the team be anywise restive or untractable. By means of my devices it will be seen that if one of the traces breaks, no matter if the whiffletree does assume the right-angular position, it can never be detached by a traction, nor can the weight of the trace or the jolting of the vehicle separate the parts, for the reason that the side flange upon the head of the stud will not admit of the whiifletree being lifted or tilted. I therefore disclaim the case referred to, and confine my invention to the particular construction of parts in which the disengagement is effected through a rearwardly.openin g Tshaped groove.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is- 1 The plate A, having a rearwardly-opening T-shaped groove, a with enlarged end, in combination with the plate 0, having astud or pivot, 0 provided with a head, as and for the purpose described.

HANNIBALR. JACKSON.

Witnesses:

A. J. RoUsH, J. H. BINARD. 

